PatrickStucke

Patrick, in 2008 you started at Konica Minolta Germany with a 3-year dual education program. Tell us something about this time.

The program is rather unique in Germany. It’s a mixture of practical work and theoretical studies. I worked for several departments, such as Finance & Controlling, Marketing, Purchase & General Administration and European Service, which ultimately was the field I wanted to specialize in. In 2011, I finished my studies with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration.

After completing your program, you joined the Konica Minolta satellite office in Malta.

Yes, I joined the Support Competence Center in Malta, which takes care of Service delivery towards Konica Minolta and Develop distributors in Central Asia, Middle East and Africa. The time in Malta was a true revelation. Being exposed to different cultural contexts makes it much easier to take an unbiased look at different issues and find a practical way of solving problems. I also had the chance to participate in different events and fairs, which gave me the possibility to be in direct contact with end customers and local indirect sales partners. This also helped me to improve my sensitivity towards customer’s needs and expectations. I moved back to Germany in 2012 and took over the Service Planning team in BEU’s Service & Support.

What is your main task right now?

Service planning deals primarily with strategy building for European Service, which is a collaborative effort with our national and Cluster Heads of Service. We also contribute key components of these strategies to cross-divisional projects. Service planning also supports in various other areas, from the design of new technical and business services to providing technical support and planning for major European exhibitions and implementing best practices in IT Service Management.

Additionally, I am now responsible for three teams that together make up our IT Service Support department. Here we handle the European support for BEU’s application portfolio, including Authentication & Accounting, Scan workflow and Enterprise Content Management solutions. We also develop custom software for our multi-functional printers. This part of my work is particularly interesting, as these IT services are at the heart of Konica Minolta’s business transformation.

What makes your job special?

There is hardly any “business as usual”. I would like to stress two main points: firstly, working on an international level, I am in close contact with colleagues, customers and suppliers from all over Europe, Japan and other regional headquarter like the US. This gives me the chance to constantly expand my experience and to learn and share best practices. Secondly, in Service & Support, I am surrounded by colleagues, with whom I work very closely and in a spirit of mutual trust and appreciation. This makes work a lot more fun and ensures success, even in the more challenging projects.

What makes KM your employer of choice?

Konica Minolta operates in a changing technology-driven business environment that constantly challenges me to adapt and learn new skills. At the same time, tasks are assigned with a high level of responsibility, which offers me flexibility to introduce and implement new ideas. I like these dynamics, and therefore Konica Minolta is the right place for me.